A few mornings after the night by the fire, Snooze gets it in his head to do something. He's been pleasant in manner since that night, but that doesn't seem like enough, to properly say sorry. Cadara agrees; actions speak louder than words.

So one morning, Snooze gets up early, and cooks breakfast. He doesn't know what the Doctor likes, but he's skilled at all kinds of breakfast foods, and crepes are one of his own favourites, and they're enough like pancakes that most people like them. He finds some berries and fruit to add to the mix; he also makes tea.

He's standing at the stovetop, the crepes browning and delicious smells starting to waft from the kitchen, when he hears a noise in the next room.

The Doctor wakes up slowly, which is an unexpected surprise. Usually his alarm clock rings and that's it. But today he's been woken up before the clock, and he's not sure why, until Essene lifts her head and sniffs the air. She bounds out of the room quickly, waiting for him just outside the door. "He made breakfast! Pancakes, I think."

That gets the Doctor awake, and he climbs out of bed. "Unusual behavior, from him. I didn't even know he knew how to cook."

"I bet he's trying to get on your good side. Get down there." Essene lopes back into the room and nudges the back of the Doctor's knees.

The Doctor pats her on the head, slips into his dressing gown, and heads downstairs to the kitchen. Snooze is, indeed, cooking, and the Doctor waits at the door, watching, while Essene walks in to touch noses with Cadara.

Snooze glances away from the pan in front of him and spies the Doctor standing at the door. He tips the pan to show him the crepes, nearly finished. "I have no idea if you like crepes, but I thought perhaps it is something you would not get to eat so often. Oh, good morning," he adds, when Cadara's tail brushes his leg.

"Good morning, Cadara." Essene slides along Cadara's body as she goes to sniff at the things Snooze has put out on the counter. She likes new smells, even if she doesn't eat.

The Doctor smiles at him. "Good morning, Snooze. I haven't had breakfast cooked for me in a long time; this looks excellent." It does, too. Snooze has clearly put a lot of effort into this meal, the Doctor thinks, looking at the various things Snooze has put out in the kitchen. "Is there some special occasion, or did you just wake up with a craving?"

"I thought this might be one way to start saying 'thank you' for your hospitality," Snooze says. He shrugs a little, and picks up the plates to start dishing out the crepes. "I like to cook; I have known how to make most breakfast foods since I was a child."

The Doctor comes over to the counter and lays one hand on Snooze's shoulder. "Well, thank you. I appreciate it." He takes his plate and walks over to the table, Essene at his heels. "And whenever you'd like to cook, please do. You could even start helping me with the shopping, if you'd like."

When the Doctor gets close Snooze instinctively glances at Cadara, but she's more preoccupied finding a nice patch of sunlight to curl up on while the humans eat. He can't deny how he reacts to even a touch like that, his shoulders straightening, standing a little taller than usual. He collects his own plate and tea and follows the Doctor. "I /would/ like that," he admits. "I can cook all kinds of things."

The Doctor takes note of his change in stance and smiles approvingly. "I'd like to see that. You've probably figured out by now I don't have much of a repertoire." He takes a bite of crepe, and looks a little bit surprised. "This is excellent. How did you learn to make these?"

Essene will lay down under the table too, then, to say hi to Cadara. She's happy that their humans are getting along better now, especially since Cadara is willing to snuggle. Essene almost always wants to be touched.

Cadara is so okay with that. She always wants to be touched, too; sometimes she wishes she'd settled on a less threatening form, so other daemons would touch her. (Most of the time she's glad she did settle as a panther, though, to protect Snooze.) She touches her nose to Essene's.

"I often had nothing else to do," Snooze explains. "And my foster parents were glad someone was happy to take over the kitchen." Sometimes it was the only thing that they liked.

Essene grins her doggy grin, and lowers her head to Cadara's level on the floor. Her tail is wagging and hitting the Doctor's ankle.

"If it's a hobby you enjoy, please do pursue it. I want you to be able to do that, here," the Doctor says. "But don't feel obligated to cook all the time; you still have other things to do with your life, after all."

The Doctor sits back a little. He's more than halfway through his meal already, and thinks he should probably slow down a little bit. "A professional chef. Is that right? I think you might have a chance at it, you know. There's a trade school in the area. Perhaps, after you graduate, you could look into that."

"I would like that." And he should find it easier to graduate, now he is staying in one place. He'll have to work hard to catch up, mend the choppy spots in his education, but if he has the chance to actually get into a cooking school, it would be worth it.

"I think it's a good idea. It'll be nice to have someone around who's not got his head on another continent half the time," Essene pipes up from under the table. It's the first time she's addressed a comment directly to Snooze, and she's a little nervous about it, but Snooze can choose not to pick up on it if he doesn't want to, and the Doctor doesn't mind at all.

"Enroll you - ah. All the standard ones for your level - English, algebra, chemistry, and world history, I believe - but we're going to go today to have you choose your electives. And there's no uniforms, don't worry about that. Though if you want to go shopping before you start, you may," the Doctor adds. Glancing at Snooze, he speaks to Cadara. "There's a sport course in the electives, I think, if that's what the two of you would like."

Snooze is excited at the thought of choosing his own. Usually when he came to a new school they put him in the classes that had room for him. "I do not believe I need to go shopping," he says. "I have clothes. Thank you, though." (He's probably gotten good at picking out clothes that will last and not look rundown.)

"I should only need a book and a pen. Thank you. Maybe a calculator," he adds, remembering mathematics. He likes it, likes the way there's just one answer, but he finds it hard because he's missed so much, moving from school to school.

"Maybe we could all go running together sometime," Cadara says wistfully.

"Perfectly understandable, considering your school history. I wouldn't worry about it, Snooze. If it's not a large gap, I ought to be able to help you through it. I'd school you myself, if I had the time. I suspect could do a better job of it than most of your teachers."

The Doctor nods. "The English teacher - very pleasant chap, but I suggest you have someone proof your essays, he got a bit twitchy at the sight of a misplaced apostrophe - and the world history teacher, excellent woman, hair like a ginger brillo pad but a very refined mind. I think you'll like it there. It's a small school, so you shouldn't get lost in the shuffle." He honestly does hope that Snooze gets on well in his new school. He wants Snooze to have opportunities.

Snooze considers the sound of it and finds he likes the idea. "That sounds good. I think I would like being able to actually breathe in the corridors," he jokes. "And having some extra attention would not go amiss."

The Doctor finishes his crepe and sits there drinking tea, waiting for Snooze to finish as well. This is pleasant. It's taken quite a while for them to settle into being comfortable with each other, but it's starting to get there, and he enjoys the companionable silence.

Snooze thinks this atmosphere is so much more preferable to the tense, pissed off silences they've shared at other meal times. Usually Snooze had said something rude, or the Doctor had said something thoughtless, and the seats at either end of the table were like opposing command posts on a battlefield.

This is much better. This is more like a breakfast table. He finishes his crepe, and settles in to peel a banana.

The Doctor opens up the newspaper, and scans it while petting Essene under the table. It's a little trickier than usual, since she's lying down to nuzzle Cadara. Interesting, the Doctor thinks. It's all the little things that he has to get used to.

"I didn't meet many, I'm afraid, but they seemed fairly interested when I took the tour around. Not many sleeping in the back of the class and such. Of course, I won't have to worry about that with you."